TERRITORIAL REBUILDING
Reconstruction of devastated zones
Following the massive destruction caused by the earthquake which destroyed approximately 105,000 homes and damaged over 208,000, major urban work should enable the reconstruction of three large affected areas, which are: the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the Léogâne-Petit Goâve axis, and the Sud-Est department, including Jacmel.
The reconstruction of devastated areas poses problems of several kinds, in particular the following:
•Clearance work and dealing with debris.
•Legal aspects to declare land of public interest including compensation of private homeowners.
•Land use and urban planning.
•Basic infrastructure work such as rainwaterd rainage,sanitation work,drinking water,the electricity network.
•The reconstruction work itself,subject to adequate building standards(anti-earthquake standards, flood potential, etc.).
CLEARANCE WORK AND DEALING WITH DEBRIS
Work on clearing and dealing with debris has already begun without an overall plan. This means that it is of prime urgency to proceed with the identification of deposit sites, processing debris to recover usable parts (iron and cement to be transformed into aggregate) and recycling them for immediate use.
The State wants to assert its leadership in this domain to avoid reconstruction that thwarts urban planning and also increases in the price of recovery of land.
The Municipalities should play a key role in this area in close liaison with the national authorities. To fulfil this mandate, they will need massive support in terms of human and material resources and major technical assistance to train staff and implement the works monitoring system.
APPROPRIATION OF LAND FOR PUBLIC USE
The reconstruction of highly devastated zones requires the use of land to be re-examined, public highways to be redesigned, and urban planning as a whole to be reconsidered.
To do so, the State has the judicial capacity to intervene. A first decree was issues on 19 March 2010 declaring certain areas of public interest to respond to the need for a new territorial planning following the earthquake. This decree covers the metropolitan area of Port au Prince, Croix de Boutquets and the commune of Léogâne. It also allows the use of requested land to relocate fami-lies affected by the earthquake. Other areas remain to be identified in future decrees. This illustrates the determination and judicial capacity of the State to make needed land available for the implemen-tation of the Action Plan for national recovery and evelopment.
USE OF LAND AND THE URBAN PLAN
The Haitian authorities have already clearly stated that they do not wish to return to the prevailing situation before the earthquake. This implies that the new urban environment to be rebuilt should have a totally different appearance.
It is the role of the urban plan to govern the allocation of land between that which will be used by the State and that which will be transferred to private landowners at current value of land. It is a complex operation to reach a final decision with the support of a sufficient consensus of the different stakeholders. Consequently, as soon as the parameters are identified, urban planning must commence.
BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE DEVASTATED ZONES
The basic infrastructure such as rainwater drainage, wastewater treatment, drinking water supply and the electricity network are directly dependent on the planned use of land.
It is therefore from the urban plan that the final design of the work required can be carried out. It is important to plan the necessary funds to carry out this work which is preliminary to or concurrent with reconstruction work.
RECONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE BUILDINGS
The reconstruction cycle for public buildings is well known and in this case, the building standards and zoning regulations should be quite simple to apply.
It will be a different matter for the reconstruction of the private sector. The application of the rules will require a level of monitoring which goes well beyond the pre-existing situation. Here too, the municipalities must fully play their roles and receive sufficient resources to do so in terms of per-sonnel, equipment and supervision.
Budgetary data for 18 months:
Debris management: $265m including $50m budgetary support
Land appropriation: $500m cash flow*
Land use plan and urban plan: $5m
Basic infrastructures:$500m including $100m budgetary support
Reconstruction of public buildings:$500m including $100m budgetary support
Total $780m including $150m budgetary support
*not accounted for in the total due to cost recovery
National transport network
BRINGING TOGETHER ALL PARTS OF THE NATIONAL TERRITORY: THE HIGHWAY NETWORK
The national transport network includes first the incomplete national highway network. It is the driving force allowing all the development zones in the country to be brought together, (i.e. all arrondissement principal towns), and ensuring trade with the Dominican Republic. Its completion makes possible a network of secondary roads from the main network facilitating ac-cess to all areas of the country. It allows delivery of the inputs to production and the circulation of finished products. It allows tourists access to the geographic and cultural potential of the country. It gives patients access to networks of health services and students access to education. It is also a precondition for effective decentralization and econcentration, including that of the State. The inclusion of all citizens also implies access to all geographic regions of the country.
To complete the road network, 600 kilometres of roads must be built along with the civil engineering infrastructures necessary for opening up entire regions. The map shown in the appendix identifies the sections to be built and the table below presents the estimated costs of roads and civil engineering infrastructures for the priority network. It also mentions the recurrent costs for upkeep of the highway network.
The natural complement to the highway network for an island country is the establishment of reliable links providing access to country’s main islands, which are Gonâve Island, Tortuga, and Île-à-Vache.
Budgetary data for 18 months:
Roads to be built: $30m for 18 months (plus firm commitment to $600m)
Repairs and maintenance: $150m including $50m budgetary support
Total $180m including $50m budgetary support
Opening up the country to the region and the world: airports and ports
Haiti has a single international airport, in Port-au-Prince, which was greatly damaged by the earth-quake.In the days following the earthquake, it the disadvantage of dependence on a single interna-tional airport became apparent; it made the country vulnerable and greatly handicapped its capacity to meetthe air supply needs.
For these reasons, the Action Plan includes rehabilitation and extension of the Port-au-Prince air-port’s capacity, and the addition of two more international airports located close to the towns of Cap Haïtien and Les Cayes. Thus the three airports will be in a position to meet economic development and tourism needs.
The port in the capital was greatly affected by the earthquake and became unusable for several weeks. It is once again functional but with reduced capacities.
One has to acknowledge that these facilities did not address the real needs of the country’s economic activities. Its location is problematic since it is situated in the centre of Port-au-Prince, where it is
partly blocking the opening of the city to the Port-au-Prince bay and the re-affectation of the area for institutional, commercial and recreational purposes, which are more appropriate for the downtown area of a modern capital that remains to be built.
In addition, its location does not allow for its expansion to receive increased traffic or to facilitate the docking of large container ships. It should then be built in a more adequate location given its functions.
Deconcentration of economic activities calls for the construction of two other deep-water ports. This will enable the facilitation of imports and exports and encourage the emergence of industrial and commercial activity in the other regions of the country. Other smaller ports will complete the national amenities.
These infrastructures should be funded through B.O.T. (Built, Operate and Transfer) type public-private partnerships.
Budgetary data for 18 months:
Repairs to PaP airport: $ 70m
New airports: $35m
Ports: $14m
Total : $114m
Preparation for the hurricane season and disaster risk management
Globally, disaster risk management is aimed at reducing the deterioration of the environment and increasing the resilience of eco-systems, reducing losses in revenue-producing sectors, reinforcing crisis governance mechanisms, protecting infrastructures, and more generally avoiding deterioration in the population’s living conditions.
Every year, and 2010 in particular, when the earthquake has affected the whole country through population movement, the rain and hurricane season represents a huge challenge for the country. This is due to the entire country being exposed to severe climatic vagaries and acute infrastructure constraints.
It is therefore necessary to reduce the vulnerability of the population areas in risk zones: protecting the population of areas such as Gonaïves, Jacmel and Cabaret that are tradition-ally hit by natural catastrophes; dredging and rerouting certain rivers and drainage canals; protect-ing and correcting the banks of certain rivers and ravines; building the civil engineering works ne-cessary to cross risk zones.
In response to these short-term priorities, a contingency plan for pre-paredness to respond to climatic vagaries is being prepared. In seismic zones, it is essential to put into place works for preventive dredging of drainage, collection and treatment canals and works for stabilization of ravine banks in affected zones to prevent catastrophes and to safeguard the remaining private and public infrastructures.
These same activities must be multiplied and reinforced, as part of a vast medium and long term programme. Moreover, the xperience of recent catastrophic events (hurricanes in 2008 and the earthquake in 2010) calls for the implementation of rigorous crisis management mechanisms. Risk management must be examined as per the following principle axes:
•From the operational point of view,the local means for civil protection will be reinforced with the continuation of the actions already in place: training, staff recruitment, equipping the community and epartment personnel, recruitment of a civil safety manager for each municipality, recruitment of a coordinator for each department to function under the department delegates. For events calling for a national response, the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities is to be confirmed as the sole body in charge of operational crisis management.
•From the point of view of crisis management the public authorities will be prepared for any crisis which threatens the country: natural, industrial or technological disaster, major accidents, health crisis, environmental degradation etc. For this purpose a National Council for Civil Protection comprised of ministers who are directly involved in crisis management will be set up and will be responsible for defining the strategy for reducing the vulnerability and the response to major crises.
This will be the political structure for management of major crises and their follow-up until the situation returns to normal. A permanent General Secretariat to the Prime Minister will provide preparation of Council decisions and their implementation; to this end, it will have the command centre (COU) equipped and managed by the DPC.
•The risk prevention policies will be followed and matched with the staff measures;delimitation of zones at risk, regulation of urban planning, prescription for construction (mainly quake resistant), standardization of construction procedures and material, pollution prevention rules etc. The Ministries of Public Works, Transport and Communication, Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Environment: must have at their disposal a control structure consisting of, before 2020, a supervisor for each department; and before 2015, start equipping the departments which face maximum threat from floods.
•The Law on the State of Emergency will be revised in order to allow the government to better respond to exceptional situations like that of January 12, 2010.
Budgetary data for 18 months:
$130m including $75m budgetary support
Regional development centres and urban renovation
The importance given to the reconstruction of devastated areas must not cause one to forget that the earthquake has demonstrated the disproportionate importance of Port-au-Prince and the fragility of the areas located on tectonic faults. Reconstruction must be carried out elsewhere, at least in part. Better redistribution of population and economic activities throughout the country requires the consolidation of new regional development centres, which are based on the economic development and the integration of various dimensions (industrial production, agriculture and social and special organization). Choices will need to be made an priorities established to play the role economic and social development of their regions. Certain towns have long stood out due to their dynamism and their appeal to the population.
The map above shows the development centres identified, i.e. Cap Haïtien, Les Gonaïves, St-Marc, Hinche, Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes. These towns have been chosen for historical reasons and to provide better structure for the country. These towns bring together large volumes of the population and already have their own comparative development advantages such as their in-dustrial, port and airport potential as well as potential in terms of agricultural, agro-industry and tour-ist development. Initially, in addition to Port-au-Prince, priority will be given to the towns of St-Marc, Cap Haïtien and Les Cayes, and to their zone of influence.
The construction and management of large facilities and infrastructure for production (industrial zones, business "free zones", etc.) or as an aid to production (ports, airports, energy and telecom infrastructure, etc.) will necessitate huge investments and adequate management capacity. Partnership between the public sector and national and international private sectors will be necessary.
The success of regional centres will depend largely on incentives for industrial, commercial and tourist development. In this respect, the Hope II law provides an initial framework for using Haiti’s comparative advantages, to benefit from its workforce, the proximity of the North American market and the knowhow of its private sector. Negotiations are under way to claim the provisions of this law for Haiti and find other ways of acilitating access to the North American market.
Ways must also be found to benefit practically from the potential benefits of Haiti joining CARICOM, and facilities made available to international organisations to stimulate direct investments. Furthermore, the diaspora is a pool of human and financial resources which is insufficiently used.
The Plan provides the opportunity to make progress in this area. In the short term, in addition to negotiations and legal and regulatory measures, the State of Haiti wants to encourage investments in this sector by supporting the development of industrial parks and free zones. Bankable projects exist in this area. These projects with internal profitability will be funded by private equity of national and foreign companies and bank loans with special conditions, and it is understood that the State will intervene directly whenever necessary to implement the necessary infrastructure and ensure more balanced geographical distribution for job creation.
Furthermore, the development of Milot National Park represents an investment that could have an impact on the development of tourism in Haiti. The tourism development Plan remains fully relevant to stimulating the growth of regional centres. This also applies to industries of assembly, textile, and residential construction and to the agro-industry. The creation of new jobs is an incentive for the population to settle in the country’s regions.
Budgetary data for 18 months:
Regional development plans and initial preparation work:
3 provincial towns: $25m per town: $75m
National planning and local development
The rational use of the territory and resources requires the development of plans and schemes that enable an applied coordination of development activities. Since national planning is a political as well as a technical process, plans and schemes should be carried out at the main regional levels.
On a national level, there is significant progress in drawing up a plan for regional development and targeted regional development strategies. There is less progress with respect to local needs for development planning and regional development.
Moreover, insofar as the execution of plans and schemes requires time, exceptional steps need to be implemented to resolve the current developmental problems.
The first priority is to draw up a national regional development plan, targeted regional development strategies, local development plans, and urban plans. These tools are indispensable for coordination of activities on the ground, and for the determination of the priorities to be implemented and for risk management.
A second priority is the protection, rehabilitation and enhancement of ten specific zones of interest both from the point of view of local development and national development. The sustainability of Haiti’s rich natural and cultural wealth - the water resources represented by the main rivers and reservoirs needs to be ensured. The map shows where these places are located.
In this respect, local development proves to be a precondition for regional development. It requires the setting up and operation of several infrastructures and facilities under the scope of the administration of national and basic local government. This may be carried out in partnership with the private sector and civil society.
It requires the construction of secondary and local roads, the routes of which must also be agreed in consultation with local stakeholders. Furthermore, the implementation of drinking water supply, sanitation networks (drainage / rehabilitation, construction of gravel traps / dredging of ravines) and solid waste collection and management networks are planned in the water and sanitation section.
To ensure the participation of local stakeholders and incorporation of data from local bodies, a local development and regional planning fund must be set up, to enable them to fund the gradual implementation of other types of amenities and local development infrastructure, such as interurban and urban transport networks, public tenders, public squares, cultural and sports facilities and parks and green areas.
Budgetary data for 18 months:
Territorial development: $20m
Local development: $30m
Total: $50m
Watershed management
The management of river basins must be carried out within the framework of national planning and risk management to contribute to reducing the vulnerability of populations and infrastructure and facilities.
The causes of flooding must also be reduced by carrying out corrective work and changing the current harmful practices. For this purpose, river basin development projects, reforestation and soil conservation projects must be conceptualized in association with rural communities and will have to match agricultural needs with the requirements of environmental protection.
An intersectoral approach is necessary. The implementation of these sub-programmes will have to be closely coordinated for the re-launch and modernisation of agricultural production.
Work to protect and correct river basins will enable reforestation of areas that are essential for soil protection. It will also allow corrections to be made to ravines and river banks, building of dykes and the construction of hill retaining walls to control the flow of water and thus protect the population and facilities and infrastructure downstream. Farming practices must also be changed to avoid overloading ecosystems and enter into the perspective of sustainable development.
Steps to regulate the use of soils, town planning and construction laws will accompany these subprograms.
Given that the problem of river basins relates to several ministries, and that the different activities involve high intensity labour, the financial needs are accounted for in several chapters, in particular agriculture and job creation.
